


Audio Unavailable

by captainskellington



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-08
Updated: 2013-07-08
Packaged: 2017-12-18 03:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainskellington/pseuds/captainskellington
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel Novak was born deaf. He didn’t hold it against anybody, sometimes that just happens. And besides, he figured that he couldn’t really miss what he’d never had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audio Unavailable

Castiel Novak was born deaf. He didn’t hold it against anybody, sometimes that just happens. And besides, he figured that he couldn’t really miss what he’d never had.

By extension, he never learnt to talk, either. There just didn’t seem much of a point, if he was being honest. So he never did. It was that simple.

School had been… Let’s go with interesting. At first it had been a case of not hurdles so much as strategically placed high jumps of ever increasing height designed to trip up the kid who couldn’t hear. The teachers spoke too fast for his interpreter to really keep up, all video resources had to have subtitles scrounged up or painstakingly typed out. And that was after the mountainous task of learning to read.

Again, he didn’t take it personally. In fact, he was pretty pleased with himself; doing better than nearly everyone in his grade was pretty badass in his opinion, disability or no.   
Then there were the kids. They didn’t talk to him because he couldn’t understand or talk back, and he was pretty sure they called him names frequently. They had mean looks on their faces and talked behind their hands, an action Castiel found entirely pointless considering the whole ‘inability to hear regardless of how muffled your words are’ thing.

Though that said, he didn’t think he was really missing out on much with them, especially on the hearing front. He vaguely recalled thinking that if their voices were anywhere near as inherently ugly as their faces and personalities, he pitied the rest of the world for not having respite from at least one of them.

Then one day, a boy with crumpled clothes, a smudge of dirt on his chin, and an astounding ability to make the air around him crackle with barely pent up energy and excitement stumbled into his class and took a seat beside Castiel.

His eyes sparkled a brilliant green and his nose wrinkled, disrupting the fields of freckles blanketing the area under his eyes as he did. He tossed a dazzling grin at Castiel and, presumably, introduced himself before looking expectantly at the other boy. At which point Castiel had shaken his head apologetically and pointed to his ear in an attempt to communicate.

The boy deflated momentarily, then brightened again considerably before digging through his backpack to retrieve a crumpled piece of paper and a blunt pencil. He scribbled for a moment, tongue sticking out in concentration, then pushed the paper over to Castiel, grinning triumphantly.

In untidy loops of graphite it read, _“hi i’m dean winchestr whats your name ? ?"_

Castiel smiled shyly and wrote in his own tiny, careful print, _“Castiel Novak."_ Then he thought for a moment and added, _“I’m deaf, sorry."_

Dean’s forehead scrunched as he read the note over Castiel’s shoulder. _“dont be sorry for being def its not yur fault do you want to be frends? ?"_

Castiel had grinned big and nodded happily, and Dean had returned the expression similarly.

The next day, Dean had rushed in flailing his hands excitedly. He waited until he was certain he had Castiel’s full attention before clumsily signing out the words _“HI, CAS"_ with fumbling hands.

He looked disheartened when he couldn’t remember how to sign Castiel’s full name, but Castiel was over the moon. Delighted, he scribbled down on their bit of paper, _“Don’t worry you can call me Cas I think I like that better anyway,"_ to which Dean grinned in reply.

Cas then signed, _“Hello, Dean,"_ which earned him a scribbled " _?_ " and he repeated the sentiment on paper.

From that point on Dean continued to eagerly learn sign language to better communicate with his friend, and Castiel shortened his name everywhere he wrote it.

Not long after that, Cas decided he wanted to learn to lip-read. He figured if Dean was willing to learn a new language to talk to Cas, it was the least he could do to talk to Dean easier. Plus he would be able to figure out what other people were saying, and it would make life in general a lot easier, but all Cas really cared about was being able to talk to Dean.

They saw each other almost every single day. Living only two streets away, they often went home with each other after school, where they would play monsters in the forest behind Cas’ house, with Cas’ older brother Gabe occasionally coming out to chase them, or watch movie after movie at Dean’s with his little brother Sammy, who Cas would sometimes help with his homework. The Winchesters positively adored Cas, and the Novaks were totally enamored with Dean.

And that was the way they continued on throughout all of elementary, middle and high school. Dean became so apt at signing - and Cas similarly at lip-reading - by the end of elementary that Cas no longer got lumped with an interpreter in his classes, instead getting a special allowance to sit with Dean and pass notes in every class.

Cas always worried that Dean was going to get bored of the funny little deaf kid with the crazy blue eyes and messy dark hair - Dean’s affectionate phrasing, not Castiel’s - and go off in search of new company, but his worries were unfounded.

In fact, though they spent nearly all of their elementary years perfectly content with nobody but each other, they actually ended up accumulated friends together.

At some point during middle school a tiny blonde girl named Jo had begun to tag along with them, enthusiastically learning bits of sign and making up the rest as she went along.

After Jo came Ash and Chuck, who didn’t really join the group so much as dive into it headlong while trying to hide from a bunch of older kids whose lockers they “ _totally definitely honestly sorta kinda DID NOT put stink bombs in, at all._ " (Dean had bitten off more than he could chew trying to sign that one for Cas, the look on his face had been hilarious.)

Last had been Pamela, who transferred in from a different state just after they moved up to high school - a quiet girl with long black hair and thick glasses, and blue eyes so pale they were almost white.

They were, on the whole, an incredibly close knit group, the likes of which had not been seen since Friends had aired its last episode (which Dean had NOT cried at, stop laughing, Cas, I swear to god) but nobody was closer than Cas and Dean.

They were inseparable. Always had been, and, as was proven when a blushing Dean had fumbled the sign for ‘ _do you want to go out with me_ ,’ and Cas had replied with a resounding ‘ _YES_ ’, they always would be.

Nobody had been surprised when they turned up at school the next day holding hands.

In fact, Jo started redistributing bets accordingly, some to people Cas didn’t even know he knew, with a put-upon sigh and an “About time, guys."

Chuck had taken his money with a grin and gloated at a grumbling Ash, and Pamela had merely snorted, held out her hand for her share, and gone back to reading Harry Potter.

Now, Cas shakes his head to remove himself from the past and busies himself with the box in front of him. Simply marked ‘Dean’s’ he honestly has no idea what’s inside. He nicks the thick tape securing it with Dean’s Swiss army knife and takes a look inside.

Cas smiles and shakes his head, chuckling. It’s filled to bursting with videos and records. He rummages through it briefly, pulling out the occasional case and reading the blurb of an all but forgotten movie.

His smile widens when he picks out ‘Star Wars: Episode IV’; his mind again jolted back to an evening in the Winchester household, leaping around the living room wearing blankets as capes and brandishing various kitchen utensils as lightsabers with Dean and Sammy after one too many bowls of leftover Halloween candy.

Cas snickers, remembering they were actually, like, fourteen at the time. God, that was fun.

He places the case carefully back in the box and shoves it off to the side, deciding Dean can deal with it however he sees fit once he’s done showering. God forbid Cas muddle up his collections.

A faint smile still playing on his lips, Cas dusts off his jeans and stands up, looking around the still-unfamiliar apartment. A few boxes lay scattered around waiting to be unpacked, while a pile relieved of their contents serve as a makeshift fort in the kitchen. Which had admittedly seemed like a hilarious idea at three in the morning while they’d been more than a little tipsy, but now just looked bizarrely out of place in the otherwise neat room.

Too neat, Cas thinks. They need to mess up this apartment more, really. Neither of them are particularly tidy creatures at the best of times, so that shouldn’t take too long.

He’s about to start emptying another box, knife in hand, when he notices Dean slide into the room, socked feet providing the perfect lack of friction for a smooth glide that stops dead in the center of the living room. He then strikes a pose, one arm in the air and the other pointing to Cas.

Dean’s mouth hasn’t stopped moving the whole way, and by the exaggerated, elongated state of the words it’s producing, it would appear that he’s been singing in the shower and simply didn’t see any point in stopping.

Dean then grins at Cas, eyes twinkling, “Hey, roomie."

Cas rolls his eyes and signs in return, ‘ _Hola, amigo_.’

"God, I love it when you speak Spanish to me," Dean teases, having long gotten used to the different languages Cas swerves between just to be difficult. Wandering over to wrap his arms around Cas’ neck from behind, he plants a kiss on his cheek. Cas hums happily and signs ‘ _I know_ ,’ over his shoulder.

‘ _I wish I could hear that_ ,’ he adds absentmindedly.

"What, me singing? Believe me, buddy, no you don’t." Cas smiles and Dean removes himself to crouch beside him and peer into the box. “Anything fun?"

Cas pulls out his college textbooks. He then wrinkles his nose and sticks his tongue out in the universal sign of “yuck" before tossing them carelessly back in.

Dean laughs and stands up, offering Cas his hand. “Come on, let’s watch TV or something, we can clear the rest of those later." Cas takes his hand and allows Dean to drag him to his feet, leaving an inch between them at most when he’s fully standing.

Cas raises his eyebrow expectantly, still swaying a little from the abrupt change in position. Dean, meanwhile, takes both of Cas’ hands in his. He runs his thumb over the silver band surrounding the fourth finger on Cas’ left hand, identical to the one on his own, and his face breaks into a warm smile.

Cas’ heart flutters at the sight and he can’t help but lean in to capture Dean’s mouth in his own, kissing softly and slowly. His hands wrap around Dean’s waist as Dean’s rest on his shoulders, thumbs stroking at his collarbones through the soft material of his shirt. Cas rests their foreheads together as he breaks the kiss, head tilted a little upwards to make up for the slight height difference as blue bores into green for what must be the hundred millionth such gaze of their lifetimes.

"We’re doing this a little out of order, huh?" Dean leans back a little so Cas can make out the words, though he may well have been able to read them by touch if he hadn’t. Cas tilts his head in confusion at the question.

"I mean, isn’t it supposed to go engaged-married-house?"

Cas wrinkles his nose again, raising his hands to say ‘ _Overrated. Engaged-house-married is the new black, didn’t you hear?’ Dean chuckles affectionately as Cas carries on. ‘And anyway, this is more of an apartment than a house_.’

"True." Dean pauses to enjoy the embrace for a few moments more before stepping back and linking their hands together once more. “Seriously though, come on. How many episodes of Star Trek do you think we can fit in before Sammy gets here?"

Ah, Cas almost forgot - Sam and Jess were coming over to see the new apartment. Cas and Dean had moved in a full week ago, now; they would be their first visitors.

Cas gives him a look that over the years Dean has learned to be the approximation of his name said in an exasperated, mildly disapproving tone. Like, De-ean. But it’s tempered with an affectionate smile and Cas goes willingly to the couch as Dean dives into his box to snag one of many box sets at his disposal. He sets it up with subtitles without even having to think about it then dumps himself on top of a protesting Cas, the two of them squirming to make themselves comfortable.

A few hours, half a season of Star Trek and several lazy makeout sessions later, Cas spots the door buzzer situated above the TV flashing blue to indicate their guests have arrived. He leaps to his feet and makes shooing gestures at Dean in between signing for him to scatter the box fort in the kitchen - they’re supposed to be responsible adults, for Christ’s sake - before darting to the door.

A check through the peephole just for the sake of doing so confirms that yes, it is the younger - huge - Winchester and his beautiful girlfriend. Cas tugs open the door and grins his greeting.

"Hey, Cas!" he’s tugged into a bonecrushing hug by Sam who then strides off to tackle his brother in a similar, but slightly more brutal, fashion.

‘ _Jess_ ,’ he signs at the girl, nodding politely before she too pulls him in for a - thankfully gentle - hug.

‘ _Hello, Castiel!_ ’ she signs in reply, smiling brightly. Cas has always admittedly liked Jess the most out of Sam’s girlfriends. She was the only one to never look at Cas like he was nothing but fragile and disabled, the only one to take it upon herself to learn some sign so she could converse with her boyfriend’s brother’s boyfriend.

After the second or third time they’d met her, Cas and Dean had both turned to Sam at the exact same time and ordered him to “Marry her," in sign and speech respectively. They’d all fallen apart laughing at that, but after Sam had said, “Yeah, I really hope to, some day."

Cas gestures towards the living room, the ‘ _shall we_?’ implied, and they head to join their other halves elsewhere in the flat.

The next few hours are spent laughing and joking and catching up, watching more Star Trek and ordering in pizza and adding the number of the pizza place to their new landline’s speed dial.

Later still they end up discussing more important matters - namely, wedding planning. By the end of the night they’ve settled most of the details - Sam would be best man, Jo maid of honor, Gabe, Ash and Chuck groomsmen and Pamela and Jess bridesmaids; Dean would not be involved in picking color schemes; Cas would have no say in the food ("You once told me to try dipping a hot dog in chocolate, man,"); and most importantly that it would be a relatively small ceremony.

And then there’s a small matter that Cas has to discuss with Sam. In private, after Dean and Jess have turned in. It’s a surprise, and one they’ve been working on - and would be working on, just to be safe - for weeks now.

Cas can’t wait to see Dean’s face.

When the big day finally arrives, it turns out way less stressful than Cas ever thought a wedding could be. He guesses people tend to exaggerate the difficulty, or maybe that’s just a straight wedding thing. Who knows.

Cas is dressed in all black with a dark blue tie and waistcoat, and Dean is the same but with dark red. The ceremony is carried out both vocally and in sign, and Cas feels himself trembling as they reach the big moment.

Because when the priest, after receiving Dean’s affirmation in sign, asks Cas if he will take Dean Winchester to be his lawful wedded husband, Cas smiles.

And drinks in every emotion that flits over Dean’s face - disbelief, joy, so much love and adoration, and the melting of his heart - when Castiel Novak opens his mouth for the first and only ever time in public to solemnly utter those golden words;

**"I do."**

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: unbetaed, written badly at ass o'clock, no experience with deafness whatsoever so apologies if poorly portrayed. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless :)
> 
> I am on tumblr at [cityelf](http://cityelf.tumblr.com).
> 
> Comments/critique welcome.


End file.
